Thomas Watson offers twenty four characteristics of a godly person drawn from the Scriptures. This is the thirteenth characteristic he lists.
Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Ephesians 6:24 (KJV)
#13 A godly person is a sincere person. . .
. . . Sincerity makes our services find acceptance with God. Though we cannot pay God all we owe, yet a little in current coin is accepted. God takes sincerity for full payment . . .
. . . A little sincerity, though rusted over with many infirmities, is of more value with God than all the glorious flourishes of hypocrites . . .
. . . Sincerity is gospel perfection: “hast Thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man?” (Job 1:8). Though a Christian is full of infirmities and, like a child that is put out to nurse, weak and feeble, God still looks on him as if he were completely righteous . . .
. . . Sincerity is the beauty of a Christian. So wherein does the beauty of a Christian lie, but in this, that he has truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6)? . . .
. . . If the heart is sincere, God will wink at many failings. So though the graces of God’s people are not drawn to their full length – no, have many scars and spots – yet having something of God in sincerity, they shall find mercy . . .
. . . Nothing but sincerity will give us comfort in an hour of trouble. “If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:21). If we are cleared at the petty sessions in our conscience, then we may be confident we shall be acquitted at the great assizes on the day of judgment . . .
Thomas Watson, ( c.1620 -1686)
The Godly Man’s Picture
pp. 99-103